


crimson

by EternalMist



Category: A3! (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Character Interpretation, Gen, Headcanon, My Master's Mesmerized by Mystery, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:27:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27225001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EternalMist/pseuds/EternalMist
Summary: Shizuma stains his hand red. Of his sister's blood.[Winter Troupe 2nd Play—My Master's Mesmerized by Mystery—Prequel]
Kudos: 5





	crimson

**Author's Note:**

> this fic was supposed to be my offering to knox's ten commandment revival gacha, in sheer hope that azuma will come home. he _did_ , though. but only once. well, i'm still grateful for that but i don't know what to do with this draft that has been sitting for like, more than a month. i thought _hmm how about i do something productive and finish this_ and thus, here it is.
> 
> on a more serious note, by canon, shizuma's sister's name is never mentioned clearly, as it is only stated as "ms.kusanagi", so i took the liberty of naming her.

Kusanagi Shizuma.

Born from the ever wealthy, influential Kusanagi household, Shizuma is often described as a perfect man. Gentle, kind, handsome, smart—those words are often to describe him, and he lives true to the name given to him. But of course, being born into such a lavish environment does not guarantee a perfection. Mr. and Mrs. Kusanagi are rarely there with him, too busy mingling with business and money, making the parents and child's relationship somewhat detached. Luckily, Shizuma has liked to read ever since he was a child, to the point where his parents gave him a personal library. Thus, making that place a personal haven. He loves being surrounded by books, better than him with people. Shizuma never felt lonely before, because hey, he has his books, right? There are too many stories that could entertain him that he doesn't mind about the absence of his parents. He would love to live here forever, if he could.

And then her sister was born.

Kusanagi Shizuku is the first light of Shizuma’s life. A sister, he thought. He had never become a brother, and having Shizuku is like a blessing to him. Shizuku—just as what a Kusanagi offspring would be, is a beautiful woman. She loves to smile a lot and smart—no, even smarter, _sharper_ than him. Quickly, Shizuma becomes even fond of her. Shizuma loves to play with Shizuku in his library. He would show her his collections—fairy tales, novels, biographies, poems, you name it—and they would often read books together. Shizuku soon grows up just like his brother.

“ _Aniue_! Look, I write a new poem for Mama!” Shizuku barged into the library one day.

The girl seemed to be holding a paper that was fully written on both sides. Shizuma frowned at the sight of the somewhat-crumpled paper, but nevertheless smiling back at his beloved sister.

Shizuma closed the book he had been reading, while shifting his attention to her. “Is that so? Have you shown them to Mama?”

Shizuku’s smile lessened a bit as she hung her head low. “Yes... but Mama said she’s too busy right now.”

Her hand began to crumble the paper. Shizuma could hear her soft sniffle, which broke his heart somewhere. He got mad at his ignorant parents. How could they shut their own daughter like this, and prioritizing something over her? She’s only five! But rather than having a fight with them, Shizuma cared more about her sister’s condition. _I can’t keep her crying like this_.

Shizuma patted down an empty place beside him, gesturing at Shizuku to come and sit. “Come here. If Mama doesn’t want to read it, I will read it for you.”

Shizuku wiped the tears from her face, now smiling brightly again at him as she ran to his side. She laid down her head on Shizuma’s leg, enthusiastically handing over the paper. The older started to read the poem out loud, making silly tunes in some parts. That successfully brought giggles from Shizuku, and as Shizuma glanced from the paper he was reading, he thought such a precious smile it was. He would do everything to keep that smile.

That day, Shizuma swore to protect her for the rest of his life, whatever it costs.

* * *

As they grow up, it is no surprise to Shizuma that his parents would do such an arranged marriage for Shizuku. Shizuma rolls his eyes down at the idea, calling it such a silly and out-dated tradition, but of course no one can oppose the head of the family. Shizuma clicks his tongue in annoyance, but nonetheless keeps his calm composure once the Kusanagi family holds a formal meeting with the Soma. Their eldest son, Keiichi, is a young man with a kind and soft figure. He is polite and doesn’t show any kind of concerning quality, as far as Shizuma notices.

Shizuma may not be good at interacting with people, but he is a keen observer from when he was still a child. All of those social events forced him to meet with various people, anyway. Somehow, he learned to read people's expressions. How most of them are wearing a sweet facade that hides ulterior motives. Money, business, politics—all the nonsense Shizuma couldn't care about. If Keiichi is ever like that, Shizuma would know immediately. But, his gut doesn't say anything. _Yet_. Maybe Keiichi _is_ a nice man. Or, he's just smart at faking it. Shizuma still couldn't trust him, though.

The young man bows as he greets Shizuma. “Soma Keiichi. Nice to meet you, future brother-in-law.”

Shizuma gives him the best smile he could, “Nice to meet you, too, Keiichi.”

Their meeting that day ended up in a dinner and small talk about the next meeting, but this time only with Keiichi and Shizuku. As a part of making them closer—a date, his parents said.

Later before they go to bed, Shizuma brings her into a bit of a serious conversation.

“Shizuku, what do you think of that man?”

“Hmm, he doesn’t seem to be a weird man. I guess his front is good,” Shizuku shrugs, “but, I still don’t trust him yet.”

Good, at least their minds still work in the same path.

“Indeed. But, still… are you truly agreeing with this-” Shizuma waves his hand vaguely, “silly idea from Father?”

“You know well I can’t oppose Father. Not even _aniue_ can.” Shizuku shots him an affirmative smile. “Besides, I will be very careful of who will be my husband.”

The thought of Shizuku being handed to another man’s care that he doesn’t know yet doesn’t sit well inside his head. Shizuma is not going anywhere, so why the need for another man he can’t trust? But nothing he could do about it.

“Well, as long as you are happy, then I will be happy, too.” Shizuma gives her one last hug before parting away to each other’s rooms.

 _It’s okay_ , Shizuma thinks, _Shizuku is not someone who can be fooled easily. If he has an ill-will, she will sure know it._ Shizuma tells this, more to assure himself if anything.

* * *

So, days turned weeks. Weeks turned months. Plates and glasses are passed, wine and champagne are poured. Engagement rings are bought and in a month, the wedding is supposed to be held. Things went normally, much to Shizuma's concerns. Shizuku seems to grow fond of Keiichi as well, which is supposed to be a sign for him to stop worrying for nothing. Shizuma could finally breathe in relief.

But definitely not after one night, Shizuku barges into his library. Once again reminiscing him of the past, but now Shizuku looks rather upset and in an utter shock. Shizuma is there like usual, reading late at night. There is this one particular book he is very interested in, a murder novel by Edogawa Ranpo. But of course, he prioritizes his sister more than anything.

Shizuma closes his book. “What bothers you at such late night?”

Shizuku takes off her engagement ring and puts it on the reading table. She only laughs dryly.

“I can’t believe I have been fooled all this time.” Shizuku shuts her eyes. “It all was clear, right in front of me, but I chose to be oblivious. For the sake of _love_.”

“What do you mean?”

“Keiichi.” She points at her ring. “I have never met a man as slick as him. Cunning as he is, such an ambitious, very greedy man.”

Shizuku shakes her head in a huff, looking over the glass wall that also serves as a window. The view shows her their front lawn. It is such a bright night with a full moon hanging on a clear sky, filled with stars. Such a beautiful sight it is, and yet the library is filled with anger.

Shizuma takes the ring, studying it carefully. The alphabet S and K are carved beautifully on the silver surface. Once served a purpose to symbolize the start of a new journey, but this thing is now only a mere useless cylinder for him and Shizuku. Shizuma gestures for her to continue.

“He-goodness gracious, I don’t know how he did it, but he passed through Father’s strict observation. Not that I usually agree with this creepy method of his,” Shizuma shrugs nonchalantly, “but now I am thankful this brought me so much insight.”

“He lies so much, so much to the point I don’t even know where to start. He has been milking down on us all this time. The moment he was appointed as my future fiancé, that was when he won.”

Shizuku sits on the chair across the table. She rubs her temple to soothe the headache down, but things are going too fast and complicated. Shizuma seems to be getting a hang of what Shizuku is talking about. Surprisingly, he discovered suspicious activities near their house.

Shizuma leans closer, hand still holding the ring, “I sniffed out something odd, two weeks ago. I suppose that was his doing?”

The woman nods. “Probably the aftereffect of what he did, but technically, yes, it was.”

Shizuku places the ring back on the table. The thing he found out was not pleasant at all. The name of the Kusanagi household is being put on a very thin thread. Be it falls to the abyss below, they will not be able to recover and clean up their name anymore.

_Disgusting._

“He is dragging our family name into the mud, it seems. But does he care about the wellbeing of his ‘future’ family?” Shizuku spits out the next word bitterly. “Absolutely not.”

“How do you plan to cease this relationship then? Father would not like it to have a traitor posing as his son-in-law.” Shizuma’s nose crinkled at the last word he just said. “Such a disgrace to even call him _that_.”

“Ha! _That_ is what I would love to know.” Shizuma pounds her fist on the table. “He’s making sure that if everything that could possibly end my engagement with him happened, our family will be at stake. I will take the blame the most.” She leans back at the chair, sounding hopeless for once. “We are on a spider web and will be trapped on it forever.”

 _What_ even is this? Shizuma tries to calculate what are the risks of him trying to sort things out. Shizuku may like to do things at her own pace but this one calls for drastic measures that he probably needs to stain his hand a little. Not that he minds doing that anyway. Shizuma swears to protect her, didn’t he.

“I will help you find the evidence and pull the strings backward. Hopefully enough to make him get caught in his own web.”

Shizuku breathes out, a bit relaxed this time. “Thank you so much, _aniue_. I know I should’ve done this earlier.”

She takes the ring and puts it back to her left ring finger. A glint of a smile returns to her face. “Soma Keiichi, you are messing with the wrong person.”

Shizuku looks like she gained her confidence back, and that put a bit of assurance on Shizuma’s heart. He believes in his sister’s power. She’s a strong and witty woman herself. Shizuma just has to give a little bit of help here and there and things are supposed to fix themselves.

Or he thought so.

Shizuma is about to head to his bedroom when he passes the main entrance and catches the sight of Shizuku leaning at the wall, knees trembling and almost fainting in front of the door. Her face looks pale, cold sweats running down her forehead and cheeks. Shizuma manages to catch her before she falls. He slides his right arm to her back, making her weight supported by his shoulder.

“What happened to you?!” Shizuma panicked at the sight of her beloved sister.

Shizuku could only smile faintly, “I am... wrong all this time, belittling him.”

Shizuma brings her to her room, placing her down on the bed carefully, while he then sits at the edge of her bed. Shizuku closes her eyes with the back of her hand, laughing dryly.

_“Aren’t you meddling in a little bit too much, Shizuku?”_

_Keiichi stood at the fitting room door, leaning against its hinge. He still had that annoying calm smile plastered on his face, but Shizuku knew better of what lies behind that. H_ _e was taunting her in order to make her make a mistake. Shizuku couldn’t allow herself to get baited._

 _“Hmm? I don’t know that I’m not allowed to choose my own_ kimono _,” Shizuku smiled confidently, eyes focused on her own reflection on the mirror, ignoring the glare sent by her fiancé, “don’t you think this one suits me better?”_

_Keiichi put back his usual smile, along with a glint of malice in his azure._

_“Of course, you can pick whatever you want,” he walked forward, “and yes, it is beautiful, which reminds me I have a gift for you.”_

_A bribery against her? Keiichi should’ve known better than this._

_Keiichi pulled out a silver necklace with a flower pendant. He put it around Shizuku’s neck gently._

_“But I’m being serious. You can’t win against me. You think I don’t know what you’ve been doing?” Half-whispering, Keiichi placed his hands on both Shizuku’s shoulders. “Back off while you still can.”_

_Keiichi’s voice was condescending, a cold ruthless one, but bless Shizuku with a cold steel as her heart. “No._ You _back off from my family before I could unravel all of your treachery.”_

_“Oh I won’t do anything to harm my future family.” Lies. All the lies Shizuku had known for months. “So just stop all of this nonsense, would you?”_

_“Would_ you _?”_

 _All of his smiles disappeared in seconds. Keiichi leaned his head forward beside hers, voice stern and threatening. “You will regret it when I break the name of the Kusanagi. And you will_ not _be able to save them.”_

_And just like that, he put back the usual smile. “See, I told you this is a beautiful necklace that suits your outfit. I shall wait at the foyer, then.”_

_Keiichi left the fitting room as if this whole conversation never existed, leaving Shizuku stunned behind. She finally realized what was actually happening behind her back. And all of those were not empty words. He-_

_Shizuku pulled off the necklace and threw it away. In rage, in resentment, she screamed._

_In desperation._

“That’s it. This is the final game and he wins. No matter what.” Her laugh falters into a cry, “I _hate_ him so much.”

Shizuma could only hold his sister’s palms tightly. Nothing breaks his heart more than the sight of her in a state like this, crushed down and hopeless despite being a fiery woman on a daily basis.

“... There is one way, though.” Shizuku half-whispers in sobs.

“No. You are tired and not thinking clearly.” Shizuma’s voice goes stern. “We are not talking about it and we will _never_ talk about it.”

As a result, Shizuku clamps her lips, giving up trying to talk about the subject.

Being Shizuku’s only sibling and spending too much time with her sometimes makes their thoughts connect with each other a lot of the time. Realistically, not some of it is very pleasant, like this one. Although objectively, his rational side agrees with it.

Shizuma _hates_ it so much.

“Ring the bell or tell me if you need anything. I will be in my room.” Shizuma plants a chaste kiss on her forehead before going to his bedroom.

Inside, he is looking at a framed decoration pinned on the wall at the top of his bed. A heirloom—it contains a dagger with the Kusanagi family symbol on its hilt. Shizuma climbs up his bed, taking the decoration. Sitting on his bed now, he studies the dagger much too deeply.

_There has to be another way. There is._

Shizuma dismantles the frame and holds the dagger firmly, opening its scabbard. The kanji of Kusanagi are carved on its blade, along with a wave pattern on both sides. It’s a beautiful dagger, indeed. Although, he is not sure why his family has this for each one of its members.

After a long contemplation and a one-sided debate against his moral values, Shizuma decides to sleep holding the dagger.

* * *

Shizuma wakes up in the morning to check on Shizuku first and foremost. But when he opens the door to her bedroom, he is greeted with no sight of her sister. Panicking, he begins to look for her around the house. He asks all the maids but no one ever sees her since this morning.

_There is no way she would do that with her own hands, wouldn’t she?_

Shizuma looks for her outside in frustration, only for him to finally find her near the entrance gate. Shizuku is looking at the small garden beside the gate, smiling but her eyes are in despair. Shizuma stops running.

The winds are blowing strong exceptionally today, fluttering her brown strands. Shizuma just realizes she is holding something he hopes the least.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Shizuku looks at the dagger on her hand.

“It is.” Shizuma answers to no one, to nothing in particular. He approaches her slowly.

“I have been thinking clearly about this,” Shizuku’s eyes are still locked to the dagger, “and there is _only_ one way to stop him.”

Shizuma’s thought stops at her words. Something just clicks inside his head. Something that he wants to bury deep, down inside his mind and not to resurface. Something that is the actual realistic way to end this.

Something that Shizuma wishes he will never encounter.

_No. Not this. Anything but this._

Shizuku raises her dagger right on her chest. Her eyes are still in sorrow, but the sweet smile never leaves her face. Shizuma grabs her hand before she could do anything.

“No! There is another way! There must be. I can’t let you-”

“Then… would _you_ do it?”

Shizuku’s deep obsidian is looking directly at his yellow. A slight change of plan, but will work, nonetheless. An even more logical way, Shizuma must admit (she's still that clever even in times like this, he thought). But, Shizuma stands still, his grip doesn't waver.

“I-”

“Brother. You have to. _Please_.” Tears begin to storm down her face.

Shizuma grits his teeth. His eyes squinted in pain. This is not the ending that he hoped.

“... Fine. I will take the blame, for you.”

Shizuma takes the dagger from her grip, holding the halt firmly inside his palms.

“I am sorry.” She let out her last tears, along with the glint of smile—a sorrow and yet, a relief. Shizuku cups Shizuma’s face in her hands, their forehead touches each other.

“And _thank you_.”

She whispers her last words, as the dagger pierces through the white silk of her blouse and stabs her heart. Staining it crimson, wet. Shizuma catches her before she falls to the ground. The body of his dead sister on his hands.

_The same hands that took her life._

Shizuma places her gently on the ground. He really wants to cry out loud, screaming at the top of his lungs. He wants to curse the universe, for working in a cruel way like this. But nothing comes out from his throat. Shizuma only shed his one first and last tear, before finally kissing her temple a final goodbye.

Shizuma takes out the dagger and goes inside.


End file.
